United to Cut Newark-Lima Route After 30 Years

United Airlines will end its long-running Newark-Lima nonstop on March 27, 2027, doubling Houston service to Peru instead, per The Points Guy.

United Airlines filed plans this weekend to end its nonstop service from Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Lima's Jorge Chavez International Airport (LIM), effective March 27, 2027, according to The Points Guy, which quotes a United spokesperson. Travelers have plenty of time to adjust: flights will operate for roughly seven more months. The cut comes as part of a larger Peru shakeup — United plans to double its daily service from Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH) to Lima, going from one daily nonstop to two, with the second daily flight beginning on March 27, the same day the Newark route ends. 'We make regular adjustments to our flight schedule based on seasonality, demand and other market factors,' United said in a statement to The Points Guy.

The timing is striking. As Simple Flying notes, just last week United announced 11 new routes to Europe and new or returning links to Asia, and disclosed that it would not cut any routes in 2027 — yet the Lima cut has surfaced within days. The route is also a legacy one: United has flown EWR-LIM since 2012, and before that Continental Airlines, which operated the Newark hub, flew the route as far back as 1996, per DOT records cited by both outlets. Simple Flying reports that United had planned daily summer 2027 service on a Boeing 757-200 covering 3,155 nautical miles, with UA886 departing 2:30 PM and UA887 arriving 8:20 AM. The outlet notes it is unclear whether the route becomes winter-seasonal or is fully cut, though its analysis suggests full-year demand makes a seasonal return unlikely.

Simple Flying's schedule analysis shows all United EWR-LIM flights planned for summer 2027 have been removed from airline schedule submissions to platforms like OAG and Cirium Diio — the process the outlet says can reveal route cessations. The publication also cites Department of Transportation data showing United transported 98,366 round-trip passengers on the route in the 12 months to May 2026, with May 2026 the busiest month (9,950 passengers) and February 2026 the slowest (4,513). It reports an 89.3% load factor over that period, varying monthly from 87.4% to 91.9%. Booking data via OAG Traffic Analyzer, as reported by Simple Flying, suggests about 74% of passengers flew point-to-point, 23% connected at Newark, and 3% transferred elsewhere, with Washington, DC the most popular connecting market.

For New York-area travelers to Peru, the end of a three-decade-old nonstop means rethinking how they reach Lima, potentially connecting through Houston instead — where United's doubled service concentrates the route. The move follows what The Points Guy calls United's blockbuster international expansion of 10 new destinations next year, and the outlet notes United's chief network planner said at the time that the carrier did not plan to cut any of the bold long-haul destinations it has launched, with routes to Greenland, Split and Palermo indeed returning in 2027. Lima, however, will see changes: the long-running New York-area nonstop ends while Texas hub service doubles. United attributes the shift to seasonality, demand and market factors.